Dark blotches on blonde nano tang

[KEITH FERGUSON]

I have a blond naso tang that has dark blotches on his body. It seems to be getting worse. He stopped eating today. He never was a good eater, just ate nori, so i made sure he had some every day. He is in my D.T. with FOWLR. I been treating the tank with copper power for about the last 2 months. Because I have benn slowly adding fish. I keep the levels in the safe zone around 175. he has been in copper for about 3 weeks. I'm starting to panic, don't want to lose him. Again he stoped eating today. As of yesterday I starting using poly filter pads to remove the copper thinking it could be that. todays reading is 155. Any thoughts ???? Please zoom in to get a better pic....
Thank you...

 

[EmdeReef]

Darkening could be a symptom of copper toxicity. I would get the fish out, let it recover and start eating and then you may try again but slowly raise the copper level over several days or a week.
You may also want to consider not dosing copper in a tank that has rocks and sand. It's usually tough to maintain the therapeutic dose and you run the risk of overdosing too.

 

[KEITH FERGUSON]

Darkening could be a symptom of copper toxicity. I would get the fish out, let it recover and start eating and then you may try again but slowly raise the copper level over several days or a week.
You may also want to consider not dosing copper in a tank that has rocks and sand. It's usually tough to maintain the therapeutic dose and you run the risk of overdosing too.

Thanks for the reply, Thats what I was kinda thinking, to much copper.....I am now in the process of using triton detox for a week, then use poly filter pads to try and get all the copper out. I used copper power and have a hanna checker, and the copper level pretty much stayed in the 175 range. I have a q.t tank set up but I already have my next batch of fish in there wrasses....

 

[4FordFamily]

Treating in DT is not a good idea.

Naso discolor when stressed, for a myriad of reasons. Each new fish you’ve added in to that copper restarted your clock as well.

Naso are typically pretty hardy in copper, but in a DT dieoff can foul water fast, which could be part of your issue.

 

[KEITH FERGUSON]

Treating in DT is not a good idea.

Naso discolor when stressed, for a myriad of reasons. Each new fish you’ve added in to that copper restarted your clock as well.

Naso are typically pretty hardy in copper, but in a DT dieoff can foul water fast, which could be part of your issue.

Not sure what you mean by die off ?

 

[4FordFamily]

Not sure what you mean by die off ?

Copper in a DT kills off lots of “live” critters, this dieoff could the water. Everything from fish and clean up crew to pods, sponge, coral, and bacteria.

 

[KEITH FERGUSON]

Copper in a DT kills off lots of “live” critters, this dieoff could the water. Everything from fish and clean up crew to pods, sponge, coral, and bacteria.

Didn't have any live critters, but I know some of the bacteria could die off.......

 

[4FordFamily]

Didn't have any live critters, but I know some of the bacteria could die off.......

Lots of things live in live rock that you won’t necessarily see